The increasing scarcity, and the realization of the ecological and safety problems associated with non-renewable energy resources such as coal, petroleum and uranium, have made it essential that increased use be made of alternate non-depletable energy resources such as solar energy. Solar energy use has been limited in the past to special applications due in part to the high cost of manufacturing devices capable of producing significant amounts of photovoltaic energy. The improvement in manufacturing technology for fabricating the solar panel in mass production has greatly promoted the use of solar energy.
Significant environmental benefits are also realized from solar energy production, for example, reduction in air pollution from burning fossil fuels, reduction in water and land use from power generation plants, and reduction in the storage of waste byproducts. Solar energy produces no noise, and has few moving components. Because of their reliability, solar panels also reduce the cost of residential and commercial power to consumers.
Laser scribing technology is widely used for the photovoltaic module fabrication because the laser-based machining tools can provide an ideal solution for many of the complex processes required in the manufacture of the photovoltaic modules. Therefore, the laser scribing technology can accurately pattern the thin films of the photovoltaic module with the desired patterns. However, one of the difficulties of making monolithic solar cells on a polymeric substrate is that the laser scribing of patterns normally generates too much heat and degrades the substrate. In particular, the laser scribing of a P1 pattern, close to the polymeric substrate, may cause a serious problem since the pattern is directly on top of the polymeric substrate.